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L'Imperatore
Joined: 24 Mar 2014
Posts: 946
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 Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2022 8:21 pm
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Is there some sort of unwritten rule in Japanese showbiz industry that lead male roles in any romcoms, be it TV series or film, must be played by idol unit members?
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Ming Yi
Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 220
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2022 10:27 pm
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| L'Imperatore wrote: | | Is there some sort of unwritten rule in Japanese showbiz industry that lead male roles in any romcoms, be it TV series or film, must be played by idol unit members? |
They're not just any idol members, they're Johnny's. Johnny's used to have a big monopoly over the male idol industry in Japan, and even though their power has waned a bit, it's still prevalent.
Also, it's common since the 1980s to have idol members be in starring roles of dramas. It's simple -- an idol being in a drama will have a sure fire guarantee of getting an audience especially if they're popular, and the drama will also cross-promote music from the group that the idol is from. Win-win deal.
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SHD
Joined: 05 Apr 2015
Posts: 1759
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2022 5:07 am
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| Ming Yi wrote: | | Win-win deal. |
...except for those who don't care about idols, but just want a good adaptation. Some idols are decent to good actors, but most of them are just... pretty. (Of course there are more issues with these adaptations than just the cast, but the acting is one aspect that keeps turning me off of them.)
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Ming Yi
Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 220
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2022 11:06 pm
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| SHD wrote: |
| Ming Yi wrote: | | Win-win deal. |
...except for those who don't care about idols, but just want a good adaptation. Some idols are decent to good actors, but most of them are just... pretty. (Of course there are more issues with these adaptations than just the cast, but the acting is one aspect that keeps turning me off of them.) |
Economically it's a win-win deal.
Japanese live-action movies are usually never faithful to the source material because they usually market to a general audience, AKA people outside of fans of the manga. Also, the reason why the acting can be campy sometimes is because Japanese acting is based on kabuki whereas the West focuses on realism, especially in comedy.
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SHD
Joined: 05 Apr 2015
Posts: 1759
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2022 5:07 am
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| Ming Yi wrote: | | Japanese live-action movies are usually never faithful to the source material because they usually market to a general audience, AKA people outside of fans of the manga. |
Rather, they market to a specific audience with specific tastes. My problem with these adaptations is not the lack of faithfulness as such, it's the way they're not faithful, the usually very specific ways they change things and insert stuff. It's like they're treating the original story as a concept/springboard from which they just create their own work that often has completely different characterization, different character dynamics, different character backstories, etc., all seemingly tailored to fit very specific tropes/beats that I assume is their assumption of the target audience's expectations or tastes. Sometimes they're more "very loosely inspired by" than "based on" the source material. (For an old example see the movie for ParaKiss, which has barely anything to do with the original story, to the point where they even throw out the entire point and message of the manga and have Yukari get together with George in the end...)
| Ming Yi wrote: | | Also, the reason why the acting can be campy sometimes is because Japanese acting is based on kabuki whereas the West focuses on realism, especially in comedy. |
Or... the actors are just not good actors. There's plenty of Japanese movies and comedies (and even TV shows!) with perfectly good acting, sometimes amazing acting, regardless of it being campy or not. Camp in and of itself is not a bad thing. Being wooden or unintentionally hamming it up is not the same category as camp, it just means that someone being cute, popular, or an established "talent" doesn't make them a good actor.
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